Months-long construction and 17 second destruction of the 1,975 foot Senior Road TV and FM tower near Houston in 1982.
NOTE: seven people lost their lives during this accident. May not be suitable for some viewers. SEQUENCE: Huge tower base is raised. Tower is completed and put into operation with temporary antennas. Top-mount panel antenna arrives and is raised in two sections. Camera rides first section. Second section is midway up when two lifting U-bolts break, dropping the antenna and workers onto guy wires below. Camera captures one of the guys being severed, which dooms the tower.
Camera falls to ground and records reflections in a pool of water of the remaining guy wires falling, just before the main body of the tower strikes the ground at 17 seconds, causing the video break-up. The bit of audio is the camerman’s reaction to the event beginning. Segment is repeated in slow motion, also showing a section of a four inch guy cable nearly decapitating the camerman, who drops the camera. When he retrieves it and resumes, the huge tower base is show on the ground Surviving crewmembers rush in to search for victims.
The crushed KTXH building, which was in operation, is shown. Rescuers arrive. The debris field is shown.